Recipes with vegetable shortening

Asparagus cream soup blends frozen asparagus with chicken broth, milk, and egg yolks into a silky velouté finished with a hit of hot sauce. Old-school stovetop classic that uses pantry staples and feeds a crowd.

Old-fashioned raisin pastries: flaky pie-dough half-moons stuffed with ground raisins, nuts, and citron in a honey-cinnamon-jelly filling. Hand pies for the holiday cookie box.

Friendship banana bread made with Amish friendship starter for extra tang and moisture, plus walnuts and a choice of orange zest or vanilla. A sourdough-style banana loaf.

This pecan pie can be make a day ahead and stored in the refrigerator until about one hour before serving time.

Copycat Hostess Ho Ho cake in sheet form: chocolate cake topped with cooked-flour vanilla cream filling and finished with a glossy cocoa-fudge glaze. Childhood snack-cake nostalgia for a crowd.

Wheat-free applesauce cake made with ground oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, and raisins. A moist, spiced cake with no wheat flour that improves after resting overnight.

Cloverleaf refrigerator rolls: soft, tender potato yeast rolls shaped three balls to a muffin cup so they pull apart into clover-leaf petals. The make-ahead dough chills overnight for fresh-baked rolls on demand.

Pane di Mattina alla Siciliana is a sweet Sicilian breakfast bread enriched with eggs, butter, lemon zest, fennel seed, and Marsala-soaked raisins and currants. Sicily's answer to morning brioche.

Baked doughnut puffs with nutmeg, chopped walnuts, and a cinnamon-sugar coating. No deep frying needed. Drop batter into mini muffin pans, bake until golden, then dip in butter and shake in spiced powdered sugar.

Gulaschsuppe, a traditional German-style goulash soup with beef cubes, paprika, green peppers, caraway, and lemon juice in rich beef broth. Tastes even better reheated the next day.

Old-fashioned chocolate sheath cake with cocoa, buttermilk, and a hint of cinnamon, frosted while still hot from the oven. A classic Texas-style sheet cake with a fudgy topping.

Chocolate cookies shaped like pine cones with melted chocolate and overlapping toasted almond slices. A show-stopping holiday cookie project that looks like woodland art.

Deep-dish chicken pie from scratch with poached chicken, carrots, celery, baby lima beans, and mushrooms in a creamy half-and-half sauce, under a hand-rolled egg-washed pastry lid. Sunday supper royalty.

Apricot bread made with a full pound of dried apricots cooked in warm spices. Cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg give these two loaves a fragrant, fruit-studded crumb.

Molasses shoo-fly cake is the iconic Pennsylvania Dutch pie: alternating layers of dark molasses custard and spiced brown-sugar crumbs in a flaky pastry shell. Coffee, dunked, no negotiation.

Slice-and-bake molasses cookies with ginger, brown sugar, and a crisp, thin snap. Shape the dough into a log, chill, slice thin, and bake for 8 to 10 minutes.

Date and nut bars with chopped dates, pecans, and powdered sugar rolled into chewy little squares. An old-fashioned cookie bar that's dense, fruity, and naturally sweet with minimal flour.

Chocolate amaretto torte with a fudgy chocolate-almond base topped with amaretto cream cheese mousse and whipped cream. A make-ahead dessert that chills overnight and freezes beautifully.

Homemade fig newtons with a chewy brown-sugar cookie wrapped around real fig jam cooked with lemon. The classic lunchbox cookie made fresh, no preservatives required.

Herbed biscuit egg bake lines a pan with a thyme-rosemary biscuit crust, then fills with eggs, sauteed onion, broccoli, and sharp cheddar. Brunch quiche-meets-biscuit casserole baked golden in 40 minutes.

Crisp oatmeal treasures are slice-and-bake icebox cookies loaded with rolled oats and chopped nuts. Chill the dough log overnight, slice thin, and bake for shatteringly crisp cookies.

Old-fashioned Pennsylvania ginger cakes with molasses, brown sugar, and a butter-lard shortening blend baked in muffin pans. Dense, spicy, and rich with that deep molasses flavor.

Favourite Sugar and Spice Cookies with Lemon Frosting recipe

White chocolate cashew pie, a sophisticated cousin to pecan pie with chunks of cashew, melty white chocolate, and a splash of kirsch cherry brandy. Brown-sugar custard, made-from-scratch crust.

Swedish rosettes are crisp, lacy fried cookies shaped by a decorative iron dipped in batter and flash-fried until golden. A Scandinavian holiday tradition dusted in powdered sugar.

3-ingredient chocolate pecan clusters made in the microwave. Milk chocolate chips and broken pecans spooned into candy cups and chilled until firm. No baking required.

Food processor pastry makes a flaky pie crust in minutes with just flour, salt, shortening, and cold water. Pulse to coarse meal, add water, chill, and roll. No hand-cutting butter required.

Brown sugar pound cake topped with butter-toasted pecan frosting. Tall Bundt with a dense crumb, deep caramel notes, and a nutty browned-butter glaze that drips down the sides.

Homemade chocolate peanut butter cups: milk chocolate shells filled with sweet peanut butter centers. Better than store-bought, made in candy cups in 30 minutes.

Pumpkin praline pie hides a buttery pecan-praline layer beneath spiced pumpkin filling in a hot-water pastry crust. A Southern Thanksgiving pie that outshines the standard version.

Waldorf red velvet cake with buttermilk, cocoa, and a cooked flour frosting that tastes like whipped cream. The original Waldorf-Astoria recipe from scratch.

Pecan crispies made with brown sugar, butter, and shortening for thin, crunchy cookies with caramel-like flavor. A simple drop cookie recipe that bakes up crisp every batch.

Orange marmalade nut bread with chopped pecans or walnuts and fresh orange zest. A citrusy quick bread served sliced with softened cream cheese.

Granola buttermilk muffins with brown sugar and crushed granola baked right into a tangy buttermilk batter. Hearty breakfast muffins with a crunchy, toasty texture throughout.

Simple walnut raisin cake with brown sugar and warm spices, simmered then baked low and slow for moist tender squares ready in an hour.

Hot water pie pastry using the whipped shortening method. Boiling water and milk create a smooth, easy-to-handle dough for a flaky two-crust pie without the fuss of traditional cold methods.

Cinnamon sugar cookies with a tender shortening-based dough, brushed with egg white and topped with a cinnamon sugar sparkle. Crisp edges, soft centers.

Chocolate cream torte made from four cocoa cookie layers stacked with whipped chocolate cream filling. Chills overnight so the cookie layers soften into cake-like slices.

Chewy butterscotch oatmeal cookies made with brown sugar, quick oats, and vanilla. A simple drop cookie with crispy edges and a soft, caramel-flavored center that comes together fast.

Kahlua mousse brownies with unsweetened and semi-sweet chocolate, coffee liqueur, instant coffee, butter, and pecans. Intensely chocolatey with a boozy coffee depth.

Homemade muffin mix with flour, baking powder, dry milk, salt, and shortening. A six-week pantry staple that replaces store-bought Bisquick for muffins, biscuits, and pancakes.

Soft apple cookies loaded with raisins, nuts, and warm spices, topped with a vanilla powdered sugar glaze. Apple juice in the batter doubles down on fresh apple flavor.

Soft honey walnut drop cookies with sour cream, flaked coconut, and vanilla. Chewy, cakey, and lightly sweet with a walnut half pressed on top of each one.

Pinwheel pumpkin cookies are jelly-roll style spirals with a spiced pumpkin and nut filling rolled into cinnamon cookie dough, sliced thin, baked golden, and finished with vanilla icing.

Pumpkin pecan crumble pie with a from-scratch pastry crust, classic spiced pumpkin custard, and a buttery brown sugar pecan streusel baked on top for crunch.

Cinnamon roll-style biscuits baked upside-down in an orange juice, butter, and orange zest syrup. Flip onto a platter for a sticky, citrusy breakfast treat.

Cream cheese chocolate cake with unsweetened baking chocolate and a built-in frosting. The same chocolate-cream cheese base makes both the batter and the rich confectioners sugar frosting.

Frosted chocolate pound cake with cocoa in both the batter and icing, baked in a tube pan. Dense, velvety, and loaded with butter and five eggs for richness.